Claim to fame: Hitting the trifecta of cultural, religious, and political organizing under MSA, Turath, and Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine. Doing some inflammatory arts and crafts my freshman year, putting those crafting skills to further good use as your RA.

Where are you going? Back home. Both to Palestine to visit + see family, and New Jersey to settle :3

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2021?

1) [Non-hierarchical] organizing is the most fulfilling thing in existence. There are few things more heartening than being a part of a group of committed individuals whose collective power is far greater than the sum of its parts. Organizing is difficult (esp when non-hierarchical), but the knowledge that you are in a group that is rooted in love, built off of community power, working towards change, and is achieving that change (@CPD @BD @CDCJ @CUAD @SJP @NAC @UndoCU c: ) is worth it and more. There are so many amazing groups here and so much work to be done– get involved/support a campaign/make yourself aware!!

2) Standing for Palestinians is an absolute moral imperative. To know of the ongoing catastrophe and, still, to turn a blind eye and stay silent is to side with the powerful. If you have any ounce of commitment to social, political, or economic justice, it is your duty to speak up and amplify the voices of Palestinians who have since 1948 told the world that to liberate our country, to have dignity, to have respect, to have our mere human rights is something as essential as life itself.

3) Life is struggle, but pls get help!! There is no better way to grow than by being challenged and uncomfortable. There is nothing worth doing or wanting that is easy, everything valuable comes with pain, struggle, and difficulty. But struggle is different from suffering! It can be difficult, especially here, with the specific mix of stress, wealth masquerading as as nothing but hard work (working harder than YOU), and pressure to deliver above the act of learning. Remember your RA, your friends, Nightline, Furman, CPS and other resources in the city are all here to listen. What is right and what is easy are rarely ever the same, and sometimes the hardest choice can be going to get help when you need it most, letting go of that relationship that hurts more than it heals, or just reaching out. Working on yourself, doing better, living your principles — these are all tough choices that require struggle and pain but are ultimately worth it.

“Back in my day…” Bwog comments were poppin, tunnels allowed me to dress inappropriately for the weather well into fall semester, and the front of Barnard Hall was still available as a platform for students #Bannergate2k14

Justify your existence in 30 words or fewer: Both of my parents are refugees, I was named [by my Iraqi mother] for Jenin Refugee Camp in Jenin, Palestine.

What was your favorite class at Columbia? 8 semesters of Columbia SJP meetings

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? In school, back when people knew even less about Islam, I’d tell my teachers things were “against my religion” so I’d get out of things and not have to do them. Sorry. Oral sex, cheese, and this question are all against my religion.

One thing to do before graduating: Take a public nap and do it with pride. SIPA library benches near the base of the spiral stairs are my favorite spot to nap on campus, dorm room considered. Please tell me where the best public nap spot is on campus in the comments.

Any regrets? I don’t regret, I only learn #noragrets. But I guess not studying abroad, not knowing about the CUMC-GWB bus that drops me off 10 minutes from home for FREE until this past summer, not owning XL lid-lock tupperware to take to events until senior year, and owning a flip phone freshman year.